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Monday, June 3, 2019

Patience in short supply



According to reports there was booing from the stands during yesterday's dreadful seven-run second inning in yesterday's 13-3 collapse against the Angels.  From his quote after the game, sentiments of dismay were felt in  the dugout, too.  Manager Scott Servais commented, "We've played this game a few times this year.  I've had enough of it quite frankly."

Fans seem to understand the sense of DiPoto's step-back strategy, but what some seem to wonder, myself included, is whether the introduction of young, newer players means play has to be so bad sometimes.  Marco threw plenty of regrettable pitches yesterday, but his efforts to keep a poor inning from balooning into the horrible one it became, was not helped by Mallex Smith's fumbling of a single into a double and Moore's toss to the wrong base.

I began to express my concerns that this team might be learning to how to lose in my post last Thursday (My biggest worry).  I shared that post with my favorite M's reporter, KIRO's Shannon Drayer, who much to my surprise and delight sent back a thoughtful and well-argued reply.  She mostly disagreed with my argument that Servais and Davis' passive coaching was teaching losing not winning.

It's easy for me to defer to Drayer, her ability to understand this team and its players is one of the reasons I respect her reporting.   And I think she's probably right - my call for Lou Pinella-like hatred of losing is out of step with the times:  "Fiery managers are no longer effective with this generation of players.  They are tuned out.  Different game."

Ok.  I'll buy that.  But just what are these coaches doing to eliminate these mistakes?  I guess I had assumed a baseball player who makes it to AAA would have the basics down, especially the fundamentals of hitting, pitching and fielding.  I believed the step to the bigs meant mastering the advanced, nuanced, maybe inner elements of the baseball and adjusting to the speed, pace and intensity of the game played at the highest levels.

Looked at more closely, these mistakes by Moore and Smith, (neither were scored as errors) on plays I would expect competent high school players to make (along with Marco's succession of wrong pitches) suggests perhaps a more serious problem: pressing.

In her reply to my whiny post, Drayer correctly points out, in baseball, "too much emotion does very bad things to a player in the batter's box or on the mound."

Apparently fan patience is a necessary ingredient during step-back times.

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